Page 40 - Seniors Today - August 21 Issue

Dushman, among other films, continuing the masses, there was a large following
till the mid-1950s. Baran maintained a
balance between classical and film music,
composing Pujaran, Adhikar and Raj
Nartaki.
The 1930s also saw releases by two female
music directors. Jaddan Bai, mother of
1950s star Nargis, composed for Talash-e-
Haq in 1935. The following year, Saraswati
Devi provided music in the landmark
film Achhut Kanya. The song ‘Main
Ban Ki Chidiya Banke’, sung by Ashok
Kumar and Devika Rani and written by JS
Kashyap, was a huge hit, and Devika Rani’s
‘Udi Hawa Mein Jaati Hai’ attracted the
connoisseurs.
‘Main Ban Ki Chidiya’ from Achhut Kanya, which was a
super hit and is hummed cheerily even today
Film music takes off
By the mid-1930s, a few definite trends
were emerging. The most obvious one was
that songs had become an integral part of
cinema, and in some cases, people went for
repeat viewing just for the songs. Secondly,
with All India Radio being set up as a
full-fledged station in 1936 (though there
had been earlier attempts to develop the
medium), songs slowly became an integral
part of its content, besides news bulletins.
The third factor was that music often
depended on the film’s subjects. A
large number of films were classified
as historicals, mythologicals, patriotic,
socials and family dramas, and the musical
themes would vary accordingly. Finally,
though film music was a big attraction for
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for classical music, both Hindustani
and Carnatic. The Harivallabh Sangeet
Sammelan in Jalandhar, Punjab, and the
Madras Music Season were the major
festivals. A small section also tuned in
to jazz, and in Mumbai, trumpeter Chic
Chocolate was a major attraction in the
1940s.
In film music, this was the era of the
singer-actor. Performers like Saigal,
Zubeida, Pahadi Sanyal, Khurshid and
later in the 1940s, Noorjehan, Surendra
and Suraiya sang their own songs. There
were exceptions, of course, with actors like
Sohrab Modi and Prithviraj Kapoor.
The first case of Hindi playback singing
took place in the 1935 film Dhoop Chhaon,
whose music was credited to Boral and
Mullick. It was a group song set in a theatre
performance, and the singers were KC
Dey, Parul Ghosh, Suprava Sarkar and
Harimati, with lyrics by P Sudarshan.
However, the trend took its time to take
off, with Saigal continuing to act and sing,
inspiring others.
Surendra, who paired with Noorjehan for the immortal
number ‘Awaaz De Kahan Hai’ in Anmol Ghadi
Playback gains importance
By the early 1940s, playback singing had
slowly gained in importance. The 1941 film
Khazanchi, which had music by Ghulam
Haider, featured Shamshad Begum on
most songs. In the 1942 movie Khandaan,
Ghulam Haider had Noorjehan sing songs